Machines for applying protective covers to various surfaces have been known for some time. Many of these machines have been designed for specific applications, such as depositing and lifting a cover for a baseball field or laying a blanket on newly laid concrete. Others of these machines have been used in agriculture for laying a covering on the ground or protecting certain types of agricultural plants. Generally, these machines are used in conjunction with a tractor and include a frame mounted on wheels which supports a rotatable shaft having a roll of the covering material mounted thereon. Some of the machines include mechanisms which form the protective covering into a specified shape, such as a hat-shaped cross section. One device, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,485, is used to apply a plastic sheet material over fruit trees. The device is supported from a tractor and includes a pivotable vertical post to which a horizontal, rotatable shaft mechanism is attached. The horizontal shaft is located at a height sufficient to clear any tree which is to be covered. As the tractor moves along between two rows of fruit trees, a motor operates to turn the horizontal shaft and dispense the protective covering over the trees. At the end of a row a cutting wheel mechanism operates to cut the material.
One problem with known machines used to apply protective covers to agricultural plants is that such machines do not have the capability of retracting the cover after its use is no longer required.